Time
by XxRinjixX
Summary: Sakura is sent on a mission to follow Sasuke as he haunts her dreams. What is real, and what is delusion? Only time will tell. Intro is the only thing up currently.


Of course I do not own Naruto, but it is my story.

Read **_and _**Review! I'd love to know your thoughts. I'm rather nervous about posting this one. I don't think it is very good. But, hey, you got to live dangerously!        XD  Lol

**Time**

Sakura was sprawled across her bed with her pink hair fanned out above her. Clad only in a light blue tank top and her usual shorts, the kunoichi watched her white curtains gently flow back and forth in front of her open window, as if her apartment itself was breathing in and out. The light seeping through her window was a faint glow, telling her the sun had not risen yet. She sat up groaning in defeat; it had been another sleepless night for her. Despite how Sakura had shifted or repositioned herself, she could not get comfortable. Her body was screaming at her to relax and sleep, but her mind would not stop running.

Last night had been the five year anniversary of the night that he left. She had not thought about him for some time now, and last night it all flooded back to her, threatening to push her over the edge. Every time she had closed her eyes she had seen his face or heard his voice. He was in, on, around, and in the front of her mind.

She gripped her bed and slid herself so that her feet now grazed the cold floor. Sakura shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. And the seventeen-year-old, with one last burst of motivation, stood and took trembling steps to shut the window. The last gasp of the apartment and Sakura's last shudder soon subsided and were replaced with the deafening silence of her empty apartment. She walked out of her room and down the hallway that led to her kitchen. She tip-toed there as quietly as she could because it somehow seemed wrong to break the silence, as if she was afraid of waking the sun.

Every step and noise she made seemed to amplify itself into the equivalent of a thunder clash. The exhausted medic-nin delicately placed herself on her plush sofa. She softly sighed in irritation because she finally felt at ease as soon as she had resigned herself to start getting ready for her day. She tenderly closed her heavy eyelids, and dri—

"SAKURA-CHAN!" She flew across the room to the intruder in her apartment. She was disoriented, and when she gained her bearings, she found herself standing a foot from her blonde teammate with a kunai to his throat. He smiled nervously and scratched his head.

"Sakura, listen. I know I shouldn't have run out on the bill like that last time. It's just that—"

"Shut up, Naruto! Why are you doing here?" The kunoichilowered her weapon and tossed it onto a table.

"Well, I just wanted to check on you. I figured you were sick or had an emergency when you didn't show up for our training today." It was then that Sakura saw the amount of sunlight illuminating her apartment. 'Damn,' she thought, 'it must already be ten o'clock.' She hesitantly leaned to view the clock behind Naruto's head and groaned. The black hands read 10:20. She would be officially late for her shift in ten minutes, and it took her exactly seven minutes to get there on her best day.

She immediately turned on her heals and zig-zagged back and forth through her apartment in various states of dress, completely forgetting about Naruto's presence. About four minutes later, the cherry blur ran out of her apartment with her hair damp, an apple in her mouth, and a half buttoned nurse uniform. Naruto started to chuckle as the girl fumbled for her keys. She looked like a complete train wreck. Sakura froze and flipped around to see Naruto with his giant perverted grin plastered on his face. She turned crimson red and furiously screeched, "NARUTO! WHAT THE HELL? DID YOU JUST WATCH ME, YOU PERVERT? YOU ARE _**JUST**_AS BAD AS JIRAIYA. OH KAMI! YOU. ARE. GOING. TO. PAY."

While slowly backing away from the irate kunoichi, Naruto tried to say, "No--Oh, um… SakuraI didn't mean to…accident…um…" And the fox demon boy bolted from Sakura's sight. She had probably spent far too much time with the little perve because she knew all of his hiding places. Running was useless to him, and for Sakura, it was only a matter of time before she found him. She tracked him down in aproximately five minutes and punched him all the way across Konoha.

Sakura was still breathing heavily as she arrived at the hospital just in the nick of time. She sat herself down in her office and caught her breath. After three monotonous hours of filling out paper work, she decided to go down to the clinic and help out. When she reached the clinic, she saw a flood of villagers and heard them all talking and yelling at the other nurses. One of the nurses spotted Sakura, literally ran over to her, and said, "Oh, Haruno-san! Thank goodness you're here. It's been like this for hours." Sakura extended her hand, and the nurse handed her the chart she was holding. It was a health scare. Someone in the village had spread a rumor that Ichiraku Ramen had been making poisoned broth. Sakura growled to herself, remembering how Naruto said his favorite shop had recently become too crowded and something had to be done. He would pay later.

Sakura stood on top of one of the chairs and called to get all the villagers' attention. She cleared her throat and said, "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen," but no one paid any attention. "Excuse me!" And still no one listened to the pink-haired nurse. "EXCUSE ME!" They were all still too preoccupied with yelling and screaming at each other.

When her polite methods did not work, she pounded her fist into one of the walls in the urgent care, reducing it to rubble. Then all the villagers stood silently and gawked at the medic-nin. "Very good," she said, "Anyone here due to the Ichiraku scare I can assure you the rumor is false; now I would appreciate it if you cleared out, so we can help those citizens that actually need it. Thank you." The crowd murmured loudly as the majority of the people cleared out of the lobby. She put the chair she was standing on back into its rightful location and picked up a remaining chart. "Alright then, Morimoto Ichigo in exam room 3 please." An eighty-year-old stood unsteadily with his eyes wide, but when she smiled at him, she could see him become less wary of her. And with that Sakura's shift went by in a blur of treating every day injuries and ailments from both ninja and regular citizens alike.

She crept into her dark, still apartment and threw herself onto her bed. She was sure she looked like a wreck after getting little rest and working a full shift at the hospital. Her body was motionless, as it would take too much energy to move. She drifted off to a half-awake/half-asleep state, and, for awhile, it was peaceful.

_The kunoichi was dancing at some masked formal affair, surrounded by all her friends. A mysterious masked man approached Sakura and asked if she would like to dance. They were soon laughing and dancing together without a care in the world. All of a sudden, everyone was on the floor except for her and her mysterious partner. She let go of him and bent down to Naruto, who was by her feet. She held his head and saw a faint trail of blood trickle from his mouth and down his chin. She screamed and called out to Naruto, telling him to wake and that he would be okay. She tried to heal him, but nothing she did was working. She turned to the man for help, to ask him if he had seen who had done this. She gasped. Her partner was in the same formal clothes that he had just been wearing, but they were covered with blood. He held two swords that were now stained a deep red, and his mask was splattered with blood._

_Sakura rose and walked towards him still questioning him. Did he see who had done this? What was going on? She felt a sword run her through, and she watched as her blood poured out of her. The only thing she could think about was needing to know who it was under the mask. Sakura slowly slid the mask off to see his face. The mask lifted to reveal a pale, handsome face complimented by raven-colored hair, and in his deep voice, he said, "Hello, Sakura. It's been quite some time."_

She awoke gasping in pain. She grabbed for her stomach and checked over and over that it had not been real. The pain, it had felt so real! She went to her kitchen and got a glass of water, still gasping and shaking from shock. She just needed to calm herself down. It had not been real. Everyone was fine. She had not seen him. He was not there. She sighed and said to herself, "You know, Sakura, sometimes you can be a little crazy."

From behind her she heard, "Hello, Sakura." It was the same voice as the dream. She turned and flung the glass she was holding to where it had come from, her heart pounding loudly in her chest. She heard it smash on the wall but saw no one there. She flipped on more lights, searched her apartment from top to bottom, and found no one.

She just needed to clear her head. The pink-haired girl grabbed a jacket and was out her door before she could even blink. Maybe that was the way to do things for the night. So she decided to walk aimlessly, to just stop thinking and start doing.

Sakura felt the cool night air against her skin. It was a cool and crisp night, and it started to bring her back to reality. The wind whipped her face in a slow, chilling way and surrounded her body, bringing awareness back to her. It felt incredible like swimming in a river did on a hot day.

She thought about her dream and tried to make sense of it. It was not that complex a dream, but it was a frightening one, a darkest fear of hers; the types of fears that are kept locked up tightly in the darkest corners of the mind and are never allowed to be thought about. To have someone kill all of one's loved ones would be terrible, and if that murderer was a loved one too…Sasuke…It was just too sickening to think about. She shook her head, trying to get rid of her thoughts, as if they could fly out of her mind.

She heard her footsteps begin to clack and realized she was on a bridge. She looked at her surroundings and saw a very familiar place. She was on the Team Seven bridge. She sighed and leaned her back against the railing. No matter where she went in this town there was always something she could see Sasuke in. She looked up to the night sky and saw that the moon was just a sliver and behind some clouds tonight, which made its luminous companions stand out more than usual. She lost track of how long she stood there, just staring at the stars. They were so peaceful and composed; each knew where they belonged and was brilliant in it. Sakura heard a faint thud on the bridge and dropped her head slightly to see an ANBU member with a cat mask. Masks, she had had enough masks for the night.

"Hokage-sama needs to see you immediately." The ANBU left before she could say a word, which was to be expected but still rather abrupt. She made her hand signs and transported herself to the Hokage's office in a flurry of cherry blossom petals.

When Sakura arrived, she found that it was only Tsunade in the office. Sakura was hoping the Hokage had not abused her power again and had just wanted her to make a Sake run. The young kunoichi yawned and was about to ask what Tsunade-samawanted when the female Hokage spoke. She ordered, "Sit down." Her voice was different than her normal or her drunken voice, and Sakura had never heard it before. It was rough and cracked like the Hokage was in physical and emotional pain.

"What's wrong Tsunade-shisou?" Sakura's eyes grew wide with concern, and she hurried to sit down across from her mentor.

"I need you to go on a mission for me," her voice was filled with anger.

"Alright…" Sakura did not understand why the Hokage was acting like this.

"Sakura, I need you to understand that I did not… that if anyone else… I am asking you this as Hokage, not as your sensei. Believe me if I could send someone besides you, I would."

Sakura held up her hand and spoke in an attempt to sooth Tsunade's nerves, "I understand your position, Shisou-sama. I know you would like to protect me, but I am first and foremost a kunoichi of Konoha. What is it that needs to be done?"

Tsunade was taken aback by Sakura's serious tone. She looked at Sakura's figure, now a figure of a woman. She realized that Sakura was not the broken little girl that she once was, and it gave her the comfort and courage she needed to go on, "I need you to lead a squad that is currently on the trail of Uchiha Sasuke, monitoring his involvement with Akatsuki. I sent only two ninjas before, thinking a smaller team would be less likely seen. But recently, it has become apparent that more ninjas are needed. Specifically, they need a ninja who is familiar with the Uchiha because the current team is finding it more challenging than they had hoped."

Sakura sat silently for a minute, blankly staring at Tsunade. Tsunade hesitantly continued, hoping Sakura could handle this, "I need you to meet your team in Suna in three days. It is a three day trip, if you remember, so you should leave immediately." Sakura stood and began to walk out of the Hokage's office. As she reached the door frame, the Hokage called out, "Find Temari-san. She will introduce you to your team. And…I'm sorry, Sakura." Sakura nodded quickly at Tsunade and left, deciding to take her time getting prepared for her mission.

She did not know how long this mission would last, and, in all likelihood, it would take quite awhile. She stopped first at the hospital because she needed to get her kit. She had assumed her medical experience was also part of the reason why she was chosen, though she was not certain. She stopped next by her apartment and gathered her things. She lazily threw in some clothes, weapons, and medical scrolls that she might need. She went through her apartment and closed everything, making sure it was all locked. She was going through everything to check to see it was in its right location, when she saw her picture of Team Seven. Her hand instantly shot out and undid the frame, sliding out the picture. She had never taken it out of the frame before and did not even know why she was doing it now. She slowly pulled out her medical kit and placed the picture in the false bottom it had. She knew it would be safe there.

She then hurried out of her apartment, knowing she was now behind schedule. She had one last stop to make. She ran and concentrated chakra in her feet to jump through an open third-story window. "Psst, Naruto!" She murmured to the sleeping boy in the dark, and the only reply she heard was his thunderous snoring.

"Naruto," she now said in a regular tone, "wake up!" The teenager stirred in his sleep. She saw what he was wearing on his head and laughed to herself, 'After all these years, he still wears that stupid thing to sleep.' He wore the dumb night cap of his childhood.

She stepped down from the windowsill onto his bed and shook him. Again, he only stirred. How in the hell did he become a ninja? If she had been an assassin, he would have been dead already.  Then the frustrated, sleep-deprived kunoichi placed her mouth right next to Naruto's ear and yelled his name loud enough to wake the dead. Well, at least wake the neighbors. Naruto jolted upwards and stood on his feet on top of his bed, "What—what's going on? Sakura? What are you—why are you here? What's wrong?"

"Settle down," she said, "I'm just here to say bye. I just got an urgent mission that's going to take awhile, so I just wanted to tell you."

"Oh, okay... Why aren't I going? It's been _forever_ since I had a mission."

"It's a medical mission, Naruto. Just relax." She said calmly. She did not want him and could not have him asking too many questions tonight.

"Oh, alright then, you better come back," he mumbled through a yawn, and he was horizontal and snoring once again. Typical.

Sakura stepped forward and kissed him lightly on the forehead. In his ear, Sakura whispered to the unconscious fox demon container, "I hope I do. But if not, this is goodbye, Naruto," and she dropped down from his window into the darkness.


End file.
